The Crank File: What I’m Reading This Week 6/23

Howdy ho comic book fans and welcome back for this 18th installment of the Crank File. What a week for Spiderman fans. Marvel announced that they had cast baby faced Tom Holland as the new Peter Parker in the upcoming Spiderman movie. And while it seems that Marvel’s official stance on Peter Parker is that he has to be Caucasian male, Spiderman is a different story. Miles Morales, who up til now has been relegated to being the Ultimate Spiderman, will be joining Marvel’s main continuity with his own Spider-man title, launching at the end of Secret Wars. No confirmation as to whether Miles is replacing Peter Parker or just supplanting the legacy wall crawler, but now’s the time to start looking for copies Ultimate Fallout #4.

Here’s what I’m reading this week:

The Top of the Pile: Fight Club #2 Dark Horse

As an impressionable high schooler, 1996’s Fight Club movie turned my juvenile worldview upside down. “You are not your job, you’re not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You are not your f*c

The Mainstream One: We Are Robin #1 DC

Spinning out of the pages of Detective Comics: Endgame, We Are Robins #1 will reveal the origins of The Robins, a group of teenagers who presumably fight crime in Gotham city. There’s a review of We Are Robins #1 online. Art by Jorge Corona, Rob Haynes and Khary Randolph. Words and covers by Lee Bermejo. All of the above look exceptional. Check it out here.

The Indie One: Ninjak #4 Valiant

Valiant’s been putting out some high-quality books lately, and Matt Kindt’s run on Ninjak has been no exception. Ninjak’s newest nemesis Roku is a world class assassin and all around bad ass; with a look that is sure to be a hit within cosplay circles. Issue #4 reveals her origin story and has one of the prettiest covers on the stands this week. Don’t miss it.

The #1 One: X-Men ’92 Marvel

The 90’s X-Men cartoon was my first introduction into the world of the X-Men. With it’s diverse team construction and heavy metal theme music, Fox’s The X-Men became the highlight of my Saturday mornings as a child and the start of a lifelong love affair with comic books. I am definitely looking forward to picking up this #1, though mildly concerned that OGs Beast and Jean Grey are missing from the cover. Let’s hope that their omission is only temporary.

The One I’m Buying for the Cover:Howard the Duck #4 Latour Gwen the Duck Variant Marvel

Jason Latour lit the fire under the current Gwen frenzy (the Gwenzy?) with the introduction of Spider-Gwen. An instant fan favorite, Spider-Gwen has become something of a pop-culture phenomena. Latour pays homage to the origins of his creation with this swipe of Robbie Rodriguez’s iconic cover to Spider-Gwen’s first appearance in Edge of Spider-verse #2. I’ve been restraining myself from picking up any of the Gwen variants but this EoSV cover swipe is just too good to leave on the shelf.

The Speculation One: G.I.Joe #215 Atkins Action Figure Variant IDW

Part 4 of the Death of Snake Eyes story arc. A new hero will rise and assume the mantle and rumors are that the new Snake Eyes could be *spoiler* a woman. Kudos to Robert Atkins and Hall of Comics in Southborough, MA who absolutely killed it with their exclusive action figure variant. Marvel’s been pushing their Secret Wars action figure variants hard and this fad was beginning to feel like it has run its course. But one look at that back cover and I was a 10 year old kid in the toy store again.

Last Week’s Leftover: Southern Bastard’s #1 Image

FX recently optioned Jason Aaron and Jason Latour’s Southern Bastards for television. Being optioned doesn’t actually mean anything, but this series would be perfect for television. Southern Bastards #1 was a hot commodity for a little while after its release but has since cooled down considerably. While technically #1 didn’t come out last week but I recently found a stack of them bagged and boarded for cover price at my local shop. With television rumors helping push speculation on this book and copies selling for $10-$15 online, Southern Bastards #1 is worth a poke through the back-issue bins.